CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER: WHO’S WATCHING OUR KIDS?

Recently, I endured a life-altering incident that has me as distraught as if it had happened yesterday. While on my way home with my three children, I was driving down one of the busiest two-way streets near my neighborhood, that I often travel.

I was listening to the Houston Rockets live broadcast, as they were playing the Portland Trailblazers in the first-round of the NBA Playoffs. The game was nearing halftime and I was getting antsy about the game like most fans do when their favorite team is playing, when all-of-a-sudden I noticed what looked like an animal attempting to cross the middle of the street. I quickly pumped my brakes and immediately realized that the thing that I thought was an animal crossing the street was actually a one-year old little Indian girl who was all alone and walking across the middle of a busy two-way street at 11 o’clock at night. All I could remember seeing was this little girl looking into my headlights, while coming within inches of hitting her.

I didn’t think twice about jumping out of the vehicle. As a matter of fact, I jumped out of the vehicle so fast, in order to grab the little girl, that I don’t remember even putting the vehicle in park. I scooped the little girl up with my left arm and quickly stood up and put my right hand in the air so as to let any cars, coming on the left side of the street and those driving behind me, know that they needed to stop. In all honesty, I wasn’t thinking about whether or not I would be hit, because the safety of this little innocent Indian girl was my ultimate priority at that moment.

I didn’t have time to pray about the situation, nor did I have time to use any logic; I just responded accordingly to the situation. This was a situation where a little girl, who was oblivious to the danger she was in, needed my help and for me to protect her.

Looking back on it, I foolishly tried talking to the little girl in order to find out who and where her parents were, but considering the little girl was only one-year old, of course there was no way we could effectively communicate. As I looked around, in the distance, about ¼ of the way down the street, I happened to hear and see some teenagers playing outside of what looked like a reception hall. I yelled to the teenagers and asked them if anybody there had lost a child and upon hearing me, they ran inside to go get someone.

There was an event going on at the reception hall and as I went inside the building to find someone who knew this baby, I witnessed a full-blown celebration going on. There were kids performing and dancing on the stage and about 300-400 people in the audience. Here I was, this big Black guy, holding a small infant Indian child, asking everyone in the back of the room if they knew who the baby belonged to and nobody knew anything. Everybody was having a great time, yet nobody appeared to be frantic and nobody was aware that this little girl had gone missing and that she was just in imminent danger. I mean, this little girl had literally walked away from all these people after having clearly walked across the street. This little girl was walking back across the street and I happened to see her in the middle of the road. As I made my way back outside, I saw a group of women running around the corner of the building, heading towards the street when they saw me come out the door.

An elderly woman, who seemed to be the child’s grandmother, came over crying and gave me a huge hug and then proceeded to clasp my face with her two hands, as if to show her appreciation. The mother came up to me and grabbed her child and began hugging her. The mother asked me what happened and where I found her baby girl. I shared the entire experience with them and as they thanked me for bringing the baby back safely, I walked back to my vehicle. We didn’t exchange any information, nor was I looking to receive any credit or compensation. I was just happy that God was able to use me to be a blessing, and to be in the right place at the right time to save that little baby’s life.

As I began to process this scenario and ask God to provide me with a meaning behind it, two things came to mind. One, I was reminded that as I travel along the road of life and continue on my journey, I must realize that I must pay very close attention to the details that come before me and never lose sight of those things, because not doing so could lead to a negative outcome.

Last, and most importantly, I was reminded about how we as human beings have to be concerned about protecting our young people, whether they are our kids or not. See, when I saw that little girl in the road that night, I didn’t care if she was Indian, Black, White or purple; the only thing I cared about was her safety and her protection. When I saw her, I saw my own kids and I did what any concerned and caring parent would do.

The people responsible for protecting this little girl, failed to do so at a very critical moment of her life and as a result she was put in danger. Many of us, like them, fail to protect our children and the children in our community, and thus those kids find themselves in compromising positions and place themselves in harm’s way. That little girl didn’t know she was making a poor decision or that the consequences of her actions were leading her to a negative outcome.

So many of our young people today, just like that little girl, are walking around oblivious to the things that are setting them up to fail or be negatively impacted. Young people today are looking for direction, guidance, stability and protection, so that the negative influences they are bound to eventually encounter, don’t consume them. When we as a community fail to provide a covering and protection for our kids we allow the things of the world like music, TV, radio, gangs, guns, drugs, alcohol, society and other external influences, significantly impact our kids.

At the end of the day, all I can do is thank God that this little girl wasn’t hit by me or anyone else, because as I play back everything in my mind, this little girl received a miracle from God and He clearly saw fit for me to be positioned at the right place and the right time in order to save her. More importantly, thank God I was a person that had the best intentions for this little girl in mind, other than being a serial killer or someone else who would have ill-intentions for her.

Each and every one of us should be concerned and provide a safe environment and protection for every kid in our community, and we should look out for them so they can grow up to be productive contributors to our society like hopefully we are.